The PGA Tour is "expected to award" more than $317M in total purse money during the '14-15 season that concludes in September, including the $10M purses at The Masters, PGA Championship and this week's Players Championship, according to Jason Sobel of ESPN.com. That is a more than 400% increase from Tiger Woods' '96 rookie season, when the "total purse money" was $68.8M. Golfer Webb Simpson: "That's crazy." Golfer Zach Johnson: "That's ridiculous." Sobel noted if money "makes the world go 'round, then such audacious payouts keep the PGA Tour dizzily spinning from one cash-laden week to the next." When the U.S. endured an economic downturn in recent years, Tour exec "didn't just retain sponsors and maintain purses, they actually increased them." For this reason, and "especially for the Tiger era boom that led to heftier television contracts and more sponsorships, the career earnings list remains quizzically skewed." James Driscoll, who "has never won a tournament, ranks higher than Jack Nicklaus; Colt Knost is above Arnold Palmer; Alex Prugh has surpassed Gary Player." While some of that "can be explained by inflation, it doesn't hide the fact that modern-day pros have a much easier route to the highest tax bracket than their predecessors." Johnson said, "The big tournaments are a joke. It's pretty ridiculous, the fact that I can go play and have an average finish of, say, like 25th, and still make this much money for hitting a golf ball, chasing it and hitting it again." Robert Streb, who has made more than $3.5M in his career at 28, added, "I make way too much money for somebody my age" (ESPN.com, 5/6).
